Chapter 5 Self-Assessment

The fallacy of rejecting a claim by criticizing the person who makes it rather than the claim itself is known as appeal to

the person.

persona.

the masses.

popularity.

A type of ad hominem fallacy that argues that a claim must be true (or false) just because the claimant is hypocritical is called

personal attack.

tu quoque.

poisoning the well.

equivocation.

The fallacy of arguing that a claim must be true merely because a substantial number of people believe it is known as appeal to

emotion.

authority.

tradition.

the masses.

Usually the burden of proof rests on the side that

is winning.

makes a negative claim.

tries to prove a negative.

makes a positive claim.

The fallacy of deliberately raising an irrelevant issue during an argument is called a(n)

red herring.

appeal to distraction.

straw man.

appeal to emotion.

The fallacy of appeal to the person is rejecting a claim by

using rhetoric.

making false statements.

ignoring the person.

criticizing the person who makes it.

Arguing that your doing something morally wrong is justified because someone else has done the same (or similar) thing is known as the fallacy of

scare tactics.

two wrongs make a right.

appeal to pity.

straw man.

A slippery-slope pattern of argument is fallacious when

it is hypothetical.

there is good reason to think that doing one action will inevitably lead to another undesirable action.

there are only two possible results.

there is no good reason to think that doing one action will inevitably lead to another undesirable action.

Drawing an unwarranted conclusion or generalization about an entire group of people is called

false dilemma.

stereotyping.

rhetorical definition.

straw man.

The appeal to popularity is arguing that a claim must be true because

no one has rejected it.

no one has proven it false.

a substantial number of people doubt it.

a substantial number of people believe it.

A scientific claim must be true if it hasn't been shown to be false.

TRUE

FALSE

If we could prove something with a lack of evidence, we could prove almost anything.

TRUE

FALSE

Good writers never combine arguments with appeals to emotion.

TRUE

FALSE

The following argument pattern is an example of begging the question: "Reinterpret claim X so that it becomes the weak or absurd claim Y; attack claim Y; conclude that X is unfounded."

TRUE

FALSE

The attempt to establish the conclusion of an argument by using that conclusion as a premise is known as equivocation.

TRUE

FALSE

Slippery-slope arguments are fallacious because they offer no good reasons for believing that the sequence of steps referred to will happen as predicted.

TRUE

FALSE

The following argument is an example of equivocation: "The political action committee is very prestigious in Washington; we can expect, then, that each of its soldiers is very prestigious in Washington."

TRUE

FALSE

The fact that someone has dubious reasons for making a claim does not show that the claim is false.

TRUE

FALSE

The fallacy of composition is thinking that the characteristics of the parts are somehow transferred to the whole.

TRUE

FALSE

The fallacy of division is frequently used in statistical arguments.

TRUE

FALSE